Really? with Emma (apologies to Seth)

Really, Archbishop Sobrinho? God wants a nine year old girl to carry to term a pregnancy caused by rape at the hands of her stepfather? Really? When she's too small to even carry twins to term and probably would have died? And really, to excommunicate the doctors and the girl's mother but not the guy who RAPED his nine year old stepdaughter? Nice touch.

I applaud the doctors for their bravery and defiance and am glad to see the light this is shedding on the problem of sexual violence and the abortion ban in Brazil.

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Anthrax Suspect Suicide Was Antiabortion

Yesterday, NPR ran a story about Bruce Ivins, who is accused of sending out deadly anthrax letters post 9/11/01. Ivins killed himself last month.

There was some speculation that Ivins had targeted Daschle and Leahy because he saw them as holding up funding that would have helped pay for his research into an anthrax vaccine. Now, officials close to the investigation say another possible motive could have been that Ivins saw the senators as bad Catholics because of their votes in favor of abortion rights.

This news dovetails with what I'm reading in Jennifer Baumgardner's excellent new book, Abortion & Life. She notes:

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, abortion providers were struck with a sick recognition: They had already been receiveing death threats from fundamentalists on a regular basis. Innocent people had been murdered and stalked, letters that claimed to contain anthrax had been sent.

Wish some of those "Homeland Security" dollars could go to protect clinic workers and patients..
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God wanted this?

You've probably heard the news about the 401 Fundamental LDS children taken into protective custody by the State of Texas. The children were removed from a compound run by the family of Warren Jeffs, the "prophet" leader of the sect currently serving two consecutive prison terms of five years to life for his conviction on two counts of being an accomplice to rape. The State had received reports of abuse from former members and children inside the compound, including that a 15 year old child bride had given birth.

A brief commercial interruption: Haven't read Under the Banner of Heaven yet? Read it.

The sect is claiming the State has violated their right to freedom of religion by taking the children. What is free about forcing 15 year old girls to marry and have sex with men more than twice their age? This "religion" isn't about freedom - it's about power. More specifically, it's about men having power over women under the guise of religion. "God told me to." How very convenient that their "God" has told them to take as many wives as possible and to procreate ad nausea and to beat and molest children and threaten anyone who speaks out or complains with eternal damnation. Sounds like a pedophiliac's/sadomasochist's wet dream until you slap the religion label on it and now it's an oppressed minority just trying to "lead a righteous life". What child exposed to such hellfire and damnation rhetoric and abuse since birth could freely choose anything?

Here's hoping these children get access to some high quality medical and psychological care. They have been brainwashed and traumatized for years.

However, this brings me to my problem with religion. As a reviewer of Krakauer's book notes more eloquently than I could: "What makes one person's claim of revelation from God valid, and another's nonsense?" Exactly. Obviously most people dismiss Warren Jeff's revelation as total BS. But is that only because it is so outside the mainstream?

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Feministing news

If you don't already know about Feministing.com, it's my favorite source for feminist news, cultural/political analysis, and humor. There were two posts today about violence against women news stories that you may not hear about in the JH Daily.

First the good news:
* Wisconsin passes a progressive law to help women fleeing domestic violence.

Now the bad:
* Women in the military far more at risk for rape by fellow soldiers than dying in combat.

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